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Jacob Ikinilik

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“I have a strong respect for the people before me who were experts—especially at predicting the weather. Just by observing the sky and the clouds they were able to know what the weather would be the next day. And they were always accurate in their predictions. But today someone may make a prediction of how it will be by observing, and you might think you are right because you are observing certain signs, but because the weather changes so suddenly now, your prediction is more often wrong. It might be a very nice calm day and then you would get a storm.

John Avaala

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"I have noticed from my younger days, as a hunter, especially the winters, there are extreme weather changes during the winter. The extreme cold followed by days of warmth."

Therese (no last name given)

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“There’s no dramatic change, but in winter the hides, when you bring them inside the house, then they used to have moisture built up. Today, they are very dry. Even when you stretch them they are not the same as it used to be. The climate seems too dry. Even sealskin is harder to manage and we keep seal skin outside to make them whiter starting in March. Not today. We have to do that in February and they are not as white as they should and they are really dry. Back then, we used to travel by qimuksiq. I remember we used to travel far. We had to prepare our hides in April.

Joanasia Apak

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“The condition today seems like it’s completely frozen but it’s very soft. It’s not that slippery anymore because it’s not completely frozen. The colour of cracks on ice are whiter these days whereas it used to be a more bluish colour. The way ice forms is different maybe because some ice moves around. The conditions of the ice is different, more difficult to pass. Back then it used to be slippery to our sleds making it easy to use for our sleds.”

Alooloo Kautaq

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“The snow and sea water mixes while it’s freezing and we call it punnirujuk (similar to lard-like mix) and that is why it deteriorates so much easily now. The kind of mix will accumulate down wind blocked by the land.”

Levi Evic

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“[I]t is noticeable that the permafrost is melting to a deeper level. Even if you are not looking for these signs, it is noticeable that the land is sagging, especially the areas that have glaciers.”

Jaypeetee Qarpik

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“The winter is seemingly a shadow of its former self. It is quite short now and the dark period is when we had ice to travel on, at least starting from November we would be traveling by dog team on the ice. Nowadays, it is right up to December and even right up to Christmas that Inuit are out boating in the fiord. That is how much it has changed since my youth. You can now boat during the twelve days of Christmas. It was unheard of in the old days.”

Mosesee Novaqilk

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“[I]t is noticeable that the sun is stronger in its intensity. These are not real burns, but they are a result of the drying out of the skin. It [skin] starts to peel more. Before, we would only get a suntan. Nowadays, some people start to burn and peel. There are more problems now with the skin cracking and peeling.”

Ipeelee Uniuqsaagaq

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

“Nowadays, the weather is quite different according to my observations. As I said I am no academic professor, but the wind seems to spring out of nowhere and when the clouds start to change, it is immediate and the wind springs up right away, even during the spring.”